In order to manufacture a wing panel, a plurality of stringers and a side of body chord are loaded into a fixture to maintain their relative positions. A plurality of wing skin planks are then positioned proximate the stringers and the side of body chord. Once properly positioned, the wing skin planks are clamped to the fixture and thereafter tacked to the stringers and the side of body chord so as to define either an upper wing panel or a lower wing panel. The resulting wing panel is then moved via a crane system to a riveting station that may employ, for example, one or more C-type Gemcor® riveting devices. The riveting devices then install rivets between the tack fasteners. For relatively large wing panels, five to seven riveting devices may be required with a dedicated operator required to operate each of the riveting devices. The tack fasteners that were previously installed are then either drilled out and replaced by traditional rivets at the riveting station or manually removed and replaced by bolts while the wing panel is stationed in a panel pickup area. The upper and lower wing panels may then be assembled to produce the resulting wing box.
The manufacturing process for producing a wing panel and, in turn, for assembling the wing panels to form a wing box requires substantial human involvement. As such, it may be challenging to increase the rate at which wing panels and, in turn, wing boxes are fabricated utilizing the conventional fabrication process.